Last Updated on July 20, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

Owning a smartphone these days is more like an adventure. There is so much that can be done with your device that most of the people don’t even know. We have OS updates and applications that you can play around with. That proximity is more increased by these small partitions that exist in your device other than the Android OS. Yes, they happen to exist and are a more complicated part of your handset. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t play around with. These partitions know as recoveries are used to optimize, personalize and customize your device and fix the bugs and lags. Moreover, you can use these to update your Android devices on the newest and lastest versions. So you have all the reasons to play around and interact with the inner stuff of your smartphone.

If you are a Sony Xperia Z1 user than do we get news for you. The long awaited Android update of Lollipop 5.0.2 is rolling out to Xperia Z and Z1 devices. And why should the Sony Xperia users be excited about the new update. The Sony devices’ UI have never been compatible with the previous Android updates BUT this time there is an exception. Sony Xperia devices will now be compatible with this new user interface.Have more than one person using your device? Your Xperia device will now have a multi-user mode and a guest mode, of course. Users can now enjoy new notification cards on the lock screen and can transfer their app to the SD card. Isn’t that delightful? So you have all the reason to update your device to the latest firmware 5.0.2.

Cyanogen

Sony is slowly pushing its update out and if you are in a region where it isn’t out yet and are tempted so much by the new OS update that you can’t wait to get your hands on it then I’m here for your rescue! I’ll tell you how you can get yourself the new firmware on your Xperia device in an unofficial method. Flashing, of course! You can flash your Xperia device on the new Lollipop update rather effortlessly if you follow this step by step guide. Remember that this guide is only for Xperia Z1 C6916. Do not try if for any other device. Do not try this if you are an amateur or just a rookie. It is tricky and you can brick your device if you do any kind of mistake.

Details of Note

  • Backup your Xperia stuff: The method erases all the data of your smartphone so you may want to back up your important SMS, call logs, contacts, photos and videos to the cloud or the computer
  • Battery: Your battery needs to be enough so that it can last and complete the whole flashing process. If your battery is dead during the flash process, you can soft brick your device. Make sure that your battery is at least 60% charged.
  • USB debugging: Make sure that the USB debugging option is enabled on your handset. If not, tap setting and then About device. Now, tap the “Build Number” option 7 times. Now head to the main Settings Menu. You’ll see the “Developer options” there. Tap it and go to USB debugging to enable USB debugging.
  • Sony Flashtool: This is a very important step. As you are doing this procedure with a Sony device, you have to have proper Sony drivers such as the Flashtool. Click here to download and then install it on your computer. Now, open the Flashtool, then open drivers and click on the Flashtool-drivers.exe. Install the Fastboot , Flashtool and Xperia z1 drivers mentioned in the list.
  • Data Cable: You have to use the Sony Xperia Z1’s original data cable to establish the connection between your pc and your handset.

Now that we have made the necessary preparations, let’s now move towards the main steps of the procedure.

How to root the Sony Xperia Z1 C6916 running 14.5.B.0.236 Android 5.0.2 Lollipop

  1. Download the PRFCreator, C6916_14.5.B.0.236_T-mobile_US.ftf, SuperSU by ChainFire and Flashtool by clicking through to this page by XDA.
  2. You need to create the pre-rooted flashable zip file now. Please see the screenshot and instructions from the same XDA page above.
  3. Transfer the pre-rooted file you made over to the internal SD card storage and make sure it’s in the root and not any folder.
  4. Boot the Sony Xperia Z1 to the recovery mode.
  5. Flash the zip file you made above.
  6. Wipe the caching options from inside the recovery mode to avoid any boot loops and other issues.
  7. Reboot the Xperia smartphone and run the Flashtool.
  8. Double click C9XX file and then click the lightening bolt icon to begin the flashing.
  9. You’ll see the firmware version available under the firmware heading, have the cache box ticked, exclude the baseband and system, followed by clicking the flash button below.

If you have any questions or you are facing some problems, feel free to drop them down in the comment section and I’ll get back to you. You can confirm it worked by installing the root checker app.